2 Two foundations in Europe: Diversity of approaches, but common commitment to the developing world
2 The Hummingbird Trust: Mathias Family philanthropy crosses gener-ations and continents
4 “Pragmatic” Mérieux Family combats infectious disease throughout developing countries
6 Global Giving Round-Up• The Giving Pledge mobilizes American billionaires• Ultra-rich Chinese donate big to Warren Buffett and Bill Gates philanthropies• South Africa’s Jay Naidoo steps down from business; leads in philanthropy• First Nigerian Philanthropy Forum to be held in December• Raza Jafar and the Hashoo Foundation respond to flooding in Pakistan• Soros gift enables Human Rights Watch to expand reach • 2011 social capital conference to be held at the U.S. State Department• “Impact investing” on the rise in Latin America and Africa• Minnesota millionaire club partners up for fresh perspectives• Tropical deforestation and U.S. competitiveness report released by ADPartners• Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation supports leadership training for Tibetan women • Second University for a Night in Africa honors Nahas Angula, Wendy and Raymond
Ackerman, Alice Mogwe• Happy people are more likely than wealthy people to give to charity• Donations by the wealthy dropped sharply in the recession, study finds
10 Resources & Links• Atlantic Philanthropies on giving while living • Jeff Sachs and Steve Killelea call for keeping commitments on development assistance• Alliance explores philanthropic advising
9 Your Ideas Wanted
In This IssueGlobal Giving Matters looks at two European foundations that work in developing countries: The Hummingbird Trust, based in England, and Fondation Mérieux, based in France. Although they exemplify the diversity of founda-tions in Europe, they have in common deep family commit-ments to meeting the needs of underserved people in the devel-oping world.
Two foundations in Europe: Diversity of approaches, but common commitment to the developing world
This issue of Global Giving Matters highlights two very different foundations that work in devel-oping countries: The Hummingbird Trust, based in England, and Fondation Mérieux, based in France.
While precise statistics are not available, approximately 10% of European foundations do some giving outside of the developed world, according to Dr. Gerry Salole, chief executive of the European Foundation Centre (www.efc.be). Giving to Third World countries is comparable between the United States and Europe, he adds.
The four basic categories of U.S. foundations – community, family, corporate and private – do not work well for European philanthropies, Salole says. European foundations are more hybrid and their source of resources is more varied. “They have been around longer, and they therefore have had to change more over time. They are not governed by one set of laws. It makes them much more complicated.”
They also differ in other ways from U.S. foundations. “In Europe, you have foundations that aren’t grantmakers, but are actually operating their own programs. There’s also a very different understanding of how you use assets,” Salole says. In general, “European foundations are some-what more advanced, in that mission-related use of assets is more frequent.”
While Fondation Mérieux and The Hummingbird Trust exemplify the diversity of European foundations, they have in common deep family commitments to meeting the needs of under-served people in the developing world.
Four years ago, Chris and Clare Mathias sat down with their three daughters, then ages 9, 12 and 14, and invited them to enter the adult world of philanthropy. “I felt it was our responsi-bility to explain [inequality] to the kids and actually take some responsibility for all the unequal things in the world,” says Clare Mathias.
Both parents had been involved in philanthropic ventures for years, and wanted to create a counterbalance to the luxury of their everyday lives in Surrey, the richest county in England.
“The reality is that the majority of the world does not live like them – they live in nasty urban slums. They [his daughters] have a real understanding of that. They realize they are lucky, and with that goes a lot of responsibility,” says Chris Mathias, a businessman and philanthropist who was born in India and lived there until he was 16. Clare adds, “They’ve learned a whole load of life skills, should they have wealth in their future.”
The Mathias daughters play a hands-on role in the Hummingbird Trust, created by the family in 2007. They helped make the decision to concentrate on women’s issues and to focus on
The Hummingbird Trust: Mathias Family philanthropy crosses generations and continents
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India, with which they feel a strong connection. The Mathiases are particularly interested in serving vulnerable young women and children in Calcutta who are at risk of sex trafficking. The trust also supports leadership initiatives internationally and some projects in the family’s local community.
Chris is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who cofounded CMG Partners and Arbor Ventures, both private investment management companies. Prior to that, he founded Conduit Communications Ltd., an IT consulting firm and service provider. Chris serves on the boards of World Links and Common Purpose. He supported the start-up of Basic Needs India, and is an advisor to Oxfam Great Britain. More recently, Chris was a founder of the British Asian Trust. He is currently involved in a business venture to identify, capture, and market new intel-lectual property in India.
Clare worked in the field of human resources for a major oil company for many years. Along with Chris, she plays on a polo team, which she also runs. In addition to her international work, Clare also is involved in a number of local community initiatives in the United Kingdom.
While Clare runs the trust, family members make joint decisions about what to fund and for how long. They also review how well grantees are doing and go together to Calcutta to see the work on the ground.
“One of our objectives is to work with the poorest of the poor and also look at communities that are particularly marginalized. We wanted to work in areas where society doesn’t deliver a fair deal for women,” Clare says. She pointed out that women in these communities are not considered just second-class citizens, but tenth-class citizens, and sex workers are “the lowest of the lowest of the low.”
The Hummingbird Trust sees itself as “small and very busy,” which is one reason for the name. Hummingbirds also have long beaks that allow them to reach areas other birds can’t reach. They evoke hope and freedom, and as the Mathias’ youngest daughter put it when they chose the name, “Humming is a happy sound.”
The trust supports NGOs that provide a range of direct services, including operating a women’s center, feeding children, running healthcare clinics, educating women and preventing violence in the home. In addition to direct interventions, however, the organizations provide holistic, integrated social development programs that promote women’s education, empowerment and leadership. The ultimate goal is for girls and their families to understand that they have other opportunities, so that they are not lured by offers of marriage without dowry or jobs in far-away countries that mask sophisticated sex trafficking operations.
“Mainly, we believe that vulnerability is a community-wide issue, and that increasing the voice of the whole community has to happen through greater empowerment and control for women,” Clare says. Typically, a group of women who are natural leaders start demanding their rights. It is not easy for these women, who have been subjugated their whole lives, to do this. “They have to be brave to stand up [to the men] and say, ‘I will educate my female children.’”
In deciding what NGOs to fund, the Mathiases take two parallel approaches, Chris explains. First, they try to think logically and strategically. “You have to understand your focus, the levers you’re trying to pull and what success might look like. On the other side, we absolutely back people we believe in. We back the man not the plan – or the woman in our case. The one thing we know for sure is that the plan is out of date the moment you hit ‘print.’ ”
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After three years of experience, Hummingbird is now organizing a conference on best practices to improve the lot of vulnerable girls and women in India. “We want to review what we have learned so far and discuss what that tells us about where we go in the next three to five years.”
Clare is still working on exactly who will be invited to attend the conference, which will be held late in 2011. “There are hundreds of small NGOs focused on doing their own piece of what they believe is useful. My hypothesis is they don’t talk together,” she says. Based on advance research on what areas seem to be most important, the conference will bring the key stake-holders together. Two major questions to be addressed will be “how bad is the problem of sex trafficking, and how can we stop it?” adds Chris.
Once they can answer these questions, the family would like to give away more money, says Clare. She notes that so far the trust has been relatively modest in terms of the amount of money it has donated. In the early days, the focus was on getting the process right, under-standing the complexity of the issues and engaging the children, Clare says.
Chris advises foundations that are considering working in the developing world to follow their heart. “If you want to do more than write a cheque, you need to have an emotional involve-ment in whatever you’re doing and that involves the heart,” he says. The other key is to really understand the culture of the area in which they want to work. “Go there with an open heart as well as an open mind because some of the things you see will shock you.”
The Mérieux family has a commitment to fighting infectious diseases that reaches back three generations to Marcel Mérieux, a pupil of the great French scientist Louis Pasteur. In 1897, Marcel Mérieux founded the Mérieux Institute to develop and manufacture human and animal vaccines.
Today, a network of biology laboratories throughout developing countries is attributable to Fondation Mérieux, founded in 1967 by Marcel’s son Charles, and the Fondation Christophe et Rodolphe Mérieux, established in 2001. The family’s business, bioMérieux, works to help improve public health worldwide through in vitro diagnostics. A percentage of bioMérieux’s profits supports the foundations.
Headquartered in France, the two foundations work closely together. They are now operating in China, Cambodia, Laos, Mali, Haiti, Madagascar and Lebanon and new projects are getting underway in Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. Fondation Mérieux, which has a total annual budget of about €12 million, has committed to building one new laboratory per year in a devel-oping country.
“We’ve learned that with an amount of money which is nothing for the U.S. or Western Europe, you can build a lab,” notes Alain Mérieux, son of Charles and chair of Fondation Mérieux (www.fondation-merieux.org).
Alain’s son Alexandre and two other family members serve on the Fondation Mérieux board of directors. Fondation Christophe et Rodolphe Mérieux was founded by Alain’s wife in memory
Pragmatic Mérieux Family combats infectious disease throughout developing countries
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of their son Rodolphe, who was killed in the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996. The founda-tion’s name was changed after Christophe died of heart failure in 2006, at age 39.
Fondation Mérieux started its international work in Southeast Asia. Dr. Christophe Mérieux, who worked as a medical doctor in Vietnam for many years, had the idea to build diagnostic labs in the field to fight infectious disease. Christophe also had worked in Haiti, which sparked the family’s interest in the country, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. Fondation Mérieux’s first project in Haiti was a microcredit program for women infected with AIDS, in conjunction with Gheskio, an NGO that provides services, research and training in HIV/AIDS and related diseases.
“We focus on what we know and what we can handle, which is infectious disease diagnostics,” says Alain Mérieux, 72. “But we can’t close our eyes when we are in countries where people are starving. We work with an NGO with microcredit because in some countries it’s not enough to make a diagnosis; you have to treat the people, and you have to feed them and the best way to feed them is through microcredit for women.”
In October 2009, just a few months before the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the foundation inaugurated the country’s only laboratory focusing on both AIDS and the identification of bac-teria. The lab sustained minor damage in the earthquake. “We were very lucky that everyone was safe,” says Karine Mehler, Alain Mérieux’s niece and a foundation board member. As a result of the earthquake, the foundation is now seeking partners to build new villages, provide clean water and improve sanitation, she adds.
As in Haiti, the foundation chooses where to operate internationally based on need and rela-tionships. “We try to be in a country where we can be useful and where we have reliable people in front of us with whom we can work. We are very pragmatic,” Alain Mérieux says.
For example, the foundation chose to work in Cambodia because the Mérieux family was acquainted with the dean of faculty of a pharmaceutical school there, who is now involved in running the lab. In Laos, the Minister of Health took on the project. A native of Mali who worked at bioMérieux convinced Dr. Christophe Mérieux to set up a diagnostic lab and training program in Bamako. Subsequently, Fondation Mérieux built a network of labs throughout Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso.
The foundation decided to bring its work to the Middle East because the dean of St. Joseph University in Beirut had been a school friend of Alain Mérieux when they were children. Fondation Mérieux set up a lab in a new university building in Beirut. The move to Central Asia came when officials in Tajikistan asked the foundation to build a laboratory because of the serious problem of infectious diseases, particularly polio.
The foundation’s involvement differs depending on the country. “I always say that we work like a bacteria – we adapt to the field and the environment,” Alain Mérieux notes. In some coun-tries, the foundation partners with the government; in others the partnership is with private foundations or universities. “We move forward only when we are sure of the partner we have locally. We have to be asked by the country, and be supported by the local authorities,” Mérieux says. “We are not building a Mérieux lab; we are building a lab that is for the country.”
However, the foundation insists that partners in developing countries share its core values of efficiency, excellence and transparency. “We cannot deviate from that,” he adds.
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Global Giving Roundup Overviews of
news and best practices around
the world and links to learn more
about them
The Giving Pledge mobilizes American billionairesBill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett are encouraging wealthy individuals to promise at least 50% of their fortune to charity. Ultimately, Buffet and the Gateses hope to inspire all Americans, regardless of their financial status, to give whatever they can (time, money, or ser-vices) “to make the world a better place.” Yet some doubt the value of this initiative. Some of Germany’s wealthiest individuals have wondered if the pledge is trying to replace the work of government. Peter Krämer, a German multi-millionaire, suggests that the money would be better used if individuals worked with established foundations or gave it to small communities to “perform public duties.” Critics notwithstanding, with the pledge plans announced in June 2010, a 50% success rate was achieved by August 2010 (of 70 to 80 contacted). Some pledges include Michael Bloomberg, filmmaker George Lucas, Ted Turner, Laura and John Arnold, and David Rockefeller. Reports indicate that the pledges so far have a “combined net worth of more than $200 billion.” Although Mr. Buffett said that reactions have been mixed, he states that he will not “give up on them.” The Giving Pledge’s website (www.givingpledge.org) list pledges, as well as links to further information resources about philanthropy. (Chronicle of Philanthropy, June 16 and August 4, 2010; Spiegel Online, August 10, 2010)
Ultra-rich Chinese donate big to Warren Buffett and Bill Gates philanthropiesBill Gates and Warren Buffet are trying to create more of a formal framework for the China’s newly rich to become philanthropists. Starting with one dinner event, their efforts seem to have worked, at least on Chen Guangbiao, who was already a major Chinese philanthropist before the event. Chen announced that he’s decided to donate all his $440 million to charity when he dies. Part of their success may be due to their focus on opening a dialogue to share experiences and see “how the Chinese people feel about a project of this sort,” as Buffett mentioned. (Reuters/MSNBC, September 30, 2010)
The biggest challenge facing the foundation is the enormity of the need throughout the world. Alain Mérieux believes tuberculosis is the greatest threat, which particularly disturbs him. “When I was a young intern at a hospital in the 1960s, we thought TB was behind us. We closed many TB hospitals in France, as they did everywhere. We thought with vaccine and anti-biotics the problem was solved.” Malaria, hospital-acquired infections, and food-borne illnesses also are widespread in the developing world.
As a result of the overwhelming need, Alain Mérieux acknowledges that the family foundations have to figure out how to move forward in terms of financing while keeping the same high quality. “As a family we can’t go much further,” he says.
The needs go well beyond the laboratories. “We are focused on infectious diseases but we cannot close our eyes to what’s going on in the streets,”Alain Mérieux says. “We want to work with people. You can’t fight infectious disease if you don’t have access to drinking water, and if you have no access to toilets. We have to take a systematic approach with other foundations and other governments.”
It would be easy for the extended Mérieux family, which is very close, to focus inward. As Mehler says, “When I am in France everything seems so far. But when you are in the field you see how important the work is that we are doing. It’s very concrete while you are there.”
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South Africa’s Jay Naidoo steps down from business; leads in philanthropyIn line with the Giving Pledge started by U.S. philanthropists Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, Jay Naidoo, co-founder of investment holding company J&J Group, has given away a third of his wealth. Although he has not met Gates or Buffett, Naidoo says he wants to spark a discus-sion among South African business leaders on “how much is enough?” In contrast to working in business, where “the motivation is to accumulate,” he asks: “what do people want to do with all that money?” Naidoo also believes that “Corporate social responsibility is not enough. What we need is for every business person to be a leader and leadership should be at every level.” Naidoo is also concerned about corruption in government, and calls for strong leaders to step up to the plate. The vehicles of Naidoo’s largesse are the Jay & Jay Group Development Trust, which supports education and skills initiatives and promotes entrepreneurially driven develop-ment; and the Angamma Charitable Trust, named after his grandmother. (Financial Mail, August 12, 2010)
First Nigerian Philanthropy Forum to be held in DecemberThe TY Danjuma Foundation is organizing the Nigerian Philanthropy Forum on December 2-3 with the theme Building Synergies for Advancing Philanthropy and Social Investment in Nigeria. The forum aims to serve as a space for government, nonprofit groups and the private sector to explore ways to strengthen philanthropy and social investment in the country. The TY Danjuma Foundation is a private grant making entity established earlier this year by TY Danjuma, a Nigerian general, with the aim supporting social development programs. Danjuma made $500 billion in personal profit in an oil deal, and his revelations about the size and source of his wealth sparked controversy in Nigeria earlier this year. Admiration of his venture into philanthropy has been mixed with condemnation of the extent to which small numbers of Nigerian leaders have obtained control of so much of the country’s wealth. For information about the December Philanthropy Forum, visit www.tydanjumafoundation.org. (Daily Champion (Nigeria), February 25, 2010)
Raza Jafar and the Hashoo Foundation respond to flooding in PakistanThe floods that raged through Pakistan this summer have caused devastation of enormous pro-portions in a country hit by a major earthquake in 2005. The human and economic toll has been massive, with an initial estimate of 15 million people directly affected. To give a sense of scale, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami affected about 2.5 million people and Hurricane Katrina in the United States approximately one half million. Global Philanthropist Circle Member Raza Jafar, a Pakistani citizen based in the United Arab Emirates, visited his home country recently and reported on the situation in Forbes online. He shares with Synergos some other information and ideas on how you can help at www.synergos.org/10/pakistandevastation.htm.
The Hashoo Foundation, which was established by the Hashwani Family (members of the Global Philanthropists Circle) in 2007 through the merger of earlier philanthropic endeavors dating back over 100 years, is very active in response to the flooding. The Foundation is both providing direct aid to communities in which it has had a long-term presence and also working to mobilize support. For example, it launched a “donate an iftari” campaign with partner hotel chains including Pearl Continental, Marriott and Hotel One to raise funding for evening meals during the month of Ramadan. Visit www.hashoofoundation.org for more information.
Global Giving Matters
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Soros gift enables Human Rights Watch to expand reach Human Rights Watch (HRW) seeks to use the $100 million pledged by the billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros to expand its global influence and ensure its long-term finan-cial health, according to The Washington Post. The New York nonprofit group, which investi-gates and reports on human-rights abuses in more than 90 countries, hopes to expand its inter-national work force by 40% and build regional headquarters in nations that are emerging polit-ical and economic powers – some of which have criticized Western rights groups as tools of American policy. “We need to be able to shape the foreign policies of these emerging powers, much as we have traditionally done with Western powers,” said HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth. “Our aim is to enlist places like Brazil, South Africa, India, and Japan, all gov-ernments that are democracies.” (Philanthropy Today, September 13, 2010)
2011 social capital conference to be held at the U.S. State DepartmentU.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently announced that the 2011 SoCap conference will be co-hosted by the U.S. State Department. Secretary Clinton expressed her support for the social capital movement, saying: “Social entrepreneurs who marry capitalism and philanthropy are using the power of the free market to drive social and economic progress.” Given U.S. President Obama’s $50 million Social Innovation Fund, it seems that government is finally catching up to the nonprofit organizations and public-private partnerships in this field. As Sean Stannard-Stockton of Tactical Philanthropy writes: “It will also be interesting to see how the Social Innovation Fund might leverage the gathering. Senior officials at the Fund have told me that they are very interested in supporting a “secondary market” for applicants to the Fund. The vision is that other funders may well be interested in supporting both finalists and non-fi-nalists.” Since SoCap is all about the “intersection of money and meaning,” it seems that next year’s intersections will include both government as well as philanthropic capital in the discus-sion. (The Hub Los Angeles, October 19, 2010)
“Impact investing” on the rise in Latin America and AfricaInvestors seeking a return on their capital are increasingly seeking to gain a social return as well as a financial one. “Impact investing” is gaining adherents with a variety of financiers, including private equity, financial services, and venture capital as well as foundations and philanthropists. In particular, agriculture in Africa and Latin America is starting to take off. Root Capital (www.rootcapital.org), a nonprofit founded by former Lehman Brothers financial Analyst Willy Foote, is one leader in impact investing. Root Capital’s strategy is to directly invest in grassroots businesses in rural areas of developing countries as well as build local capacity to grow the “missing middle” between microfinance and corporate banking. Although Root Capital is mainly focused on Latin America, with 80% of its $75 million in credit disbursements there, in 2010 and beyond, they plan to invest more in African businesses. To better support collabora-tion and support the infrastructure in this nascent field, the Global Impact Investing Network has produced a project called Impact Reporting and Investment Standards to help impact inves-tors track long-term impact. (Reuters, November 8, 2010)
Minnesota millionaire club partners up for fresh perspectivesThe One Percent Club was started in Minnesota in 1997 to encourage people to donate 1% of their income to charity. Founders Joe Selvaggio, a Twin Cities nonprofit leader, and Tom Lowe, chairman of the Lyman Lumber Co, took action because of research that the richest Americans donated a smaller share of their wealth than others. According to Steve Paprocki, who teaches philanthropy at Hamline University in Minnesota, the idea of having companies
Global Giving Matters
Fall 2010 9
give money at a certain level was not new, but reaching out to wealthy individuals to donate a specific percentage of their wealth was new. However, after a few years, the One Percent Club lost some momentum – partly because there was no unifying cause. To address this, the One Percent Club partnered with Social Venture Partners to bring in younger philanthropists, new perspectives, and a focus on charities with growth potential. “The power of this partnership is it joins traditional philanthropy with the new wave,” says Brad Brown, Social Venture’s executive director. (Star Tribune, October 17, 2010)
Tropical deforestation and U.S. competitiveness report released by ADPartnersGPC member Jeff Horowitz’s organization Avoided Deforestation Partners released a new report in a joint effort with the National Farmers Union on the benefits of protecting tropical rainforests from deforestation. The researchers believe that preventing tropical deforestation will boost U.S. agricultural revenue by an estimated $196 to 267 billion by the year 2030. This amount is equivalent to the how much U.S. farmers would spend on energy in the next 20 years. Additionally, more greenhouse gases are released by tropical deforestation than all cars, trucks, tractors and farm equipment worldwide. “Protecting rainforest is a win-win-win for the climate, for American consumers, and for farmers and ranchers,” Horowitz summarizes. The report, titled Farms Here Forest There: Tropical Deforestation and U.S. Competitiveness in Agriculture and Timber, is available at www.adpartners.org.
Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation supports leadership training for Tibetan women The Shelly & Donald Rubin Foundation, founded by Global Philanthropists Circle members Shelly and Donald Rubin, provided the financial support for the first ever Tibetan Women’s Advanced Leadership Training program. Held in Dharamsala, India, the event was organized by the Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA) to provide training to 30 potential Tibetan female leaders. The main guest of the event was former education Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-exile and founding president of TWA, Rinchen Khando Choegyal. Choegyal spoke about witnessing the progress that modern Tibetan women have made by taking leader-ship roles within the Tibetan community. Tsewang Yeshi, President of Tibetan Children’s Village Schools also highlighted the importance of education to empower women. Financial support was also provided by the Open Meadow Foundation. (Phayul, June 9, 2010)
Second University for a Night in Africa honors Nahas Angula, Wendy and Raymond Ackerman, Alice MogweOver 170 leaders from business, civil society and government came together in Johannesburg on October 11, 2010 for the second annual University for a Night in Africa. The focus of the evening was to share and discuss better ways of working together to address problems of poverty and to build a more equitable society in Africa. Participants met over dinner for discussions of specific topics under this broad theme. Table discussion included “Empowering communities by empowering girls,” “Reinventing entrepreneurship in Africa,” and “Innovations to transform education systems in Africa.”
Synergos also used the occasion to honor four African leaders who have worked to bridge divides for more equitable social, economic and political development. The 2010 recipients of the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership in Africa Awards were Nahas Angula, Prime Minister of Namibia, Wendy and Raymond Ackerman, South African entrepreneurs and phi-lanthropists, and Alice Mogwe, Director of the Botswana Centre for Human Rights.
Global Giving Matters
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Happy people are more likely than wealthy people to give to charityThe World Giving Index, released by the Charities Aid Foundation in Britain, asked people whether they donated money in the last month to a charity, and how happy they were on a scale of 1 to 10. The Index is based on national GDP and about how happy the country’s people were. Interestingly, the happier people are, the more likely they are to donate money, thus improving the livelihoods of those around them, which could ultimately lead to a self-per-petuating virtuous cycle. Although monetary donations were the primary method of measuring philanthropy, the Index also collected data on volunteering time and whether respondents would help strangers. Unlike the general association between happiness and monetary dona-tions, volunteering patterns vary more by country and region. Age was also a factor, with older adults (over age 50) more likely to donate, but less likely to help a stranger. (Philanthropy Journal, September 13, 2010)
Donations by the wealthy dropped sharply in the recession, study findsAlthough wealthy Americans are still giving money to charities, average giving as a proportion of total income and the average total amount (down 35% from 2007 to 2009), according to a study by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. However, volunteering is on the rise – and those who volunteered more also donated more. Surveyed individuals (with an average wealth of $11 million) also reported that tax poli-cies influence their giving. Two thirds of affluent donors said they would decrease their giving if they could not write off donations on their income taxes. Changes in giving patterns also included more donations to “basic needs” causes, although that only accounted for 5% of all gifts. The top three recipients of donations were foundations, trusts, and other similar instru-ments (22.1%), educational organizations (19.3%), and religious organizations (13.3%). Respondents also listed three main reasons for giving: that their gifts could make a difference, that they were financially comfortable, and that they believed the recipient charitable organiza-tion was efficient. (Chronicle of Philanthropy, November 9, 2010)
Activities, web-sites and other
cutting-edge information for
global givers
Resources & LinksAtlantic Philanthropies on giving while living The Atlantic Philanthropies has published Turning Passion Into Action: Giving While Living, a report on the growing trend of wealthy philanthropists spending down their fortunes while alive. That’s the approach taken by Atlantic Philanthropies founder Chuck Feeney. The report highlights Feeney’s story and features profiles of 10 other philanthropists who are giving gener-ously to address urgent social challenges and injustices. The report offers tips and resources for those who may be interested in starting a Giving While Living program, but many of these sug-gestions could apply to any strategic philanthropists, whatever the time horizon for their giving. Among the resources mentioned are philanthropic networks and groups such as the Global Philanthropists Circle. The report is available at www.atlanticphilanthropies.org.
Jeff Sachs and Steve Killelea call for keeping commitments on development assistanceA new report co-authored by Jeff Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, and Steve Killelea, Chairman and Founder of the Institute for Economics and Peace and a member of the Global Philanthropists Circle, holds the G8 to account for meeting its own goals for development assis-tance delivery and monitoring. According to the report, “The G8 keeps failing the tests it sets
Global Giving Matters
Fall 2010 11
Global Giving Matters aims to present information on best practices and innovations in phi-lanthropy and social investment around the world. We encourage you to send us:
• Ideas about issues or people you would like to learn more about• Examples of your own philanthropy• Comments about this issue.
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The Synergos Institute 51 Madison avenue 21st Floor New York, NY 10010 Usa tel +1 212-447-8111 fax +1 212-447-8119www.synergos.org
itself. In 2005, at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, the G8 and major aid donors pledged to increase both the quality and quantity of their aid. Targets, first articulated in UN declarations in the 1970s, were agreed to 2010 and 2015. . .Yet as the medium-term deadlines near, it is clear that most of the G8 are not on course to meet the promises they made in 2005.” Measuring Peace in the Media is available at www.visionofhumanity.org.
Alliance explores philanthropic advisingThe September issue of Alliance magazine includes a special feature on philanthropic advising. Articles in the feature, which is guest edited by Melissa Berman of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, Felicitas von Peter of Active Philanthropy, and Olga Alexeeva of the new Philanthropy Bridge Foundation, point to the the lack of, and need for, professional standards in the field. Alliance’s Caroline Hartnell, for example, examines some of the difficulties banks may have in acting as philanthropic advisors to their clients, leading to questions about the need for a regulation or a professional code of ethics in this field. The issue also contains infor-mation about options in philanthropic advising in a number of emerging markets. Visit www.alliancemagazine.org for information.
